The Burden
by ForevaYoung
Summary: I am unique, yet I still carry the same burden as the rest of my kind...


I do not own Pokémon. GameFreak and Nintendo have that privilege. I own nothing except the story and the characters made for this story, that's all.

I have updated and fixed the way it was supposed to be narrated. It is now all in the right tense at the correct parts of the story. I have also fixed my grammar, as it was terrible before and I apologise for that. Please give me any information on this that I can use to make my stroeis better in the future. Thank you :)

Enjoy!

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><p>I was too late. Again.<p>

I had a vision of a young trainer, not long started her journey become part of another horrible tragedy.

This vision had caused my instincts to go into high alert and find the poor human before she suffered the terrible fate put into my mind through my 'sensor'. I hoped with all my might that this time I would change the current path the young trainer was unintentionally walking into, and save her. All I had to do was make sure I stayed hidden and appeared before her at the correct time; otherwise the chain of events could be put into action a lot earlier than they should.

This time… this time I'll save a life.

Like a hundred times before I was too late and showed myself as 'the omen of death' once again. I watched from atop a small cliff the horror unfolding. I tried to jump in and avert the many rocks and boulders destinations, but it was no use. It was just too late.

I crept away from the scene, like a thousand times before, with guilt washing over me at being so useless with this burden. I saw an ambulance coming along the road and stopped just a ways from the destruction where the girl was trapped under. I heard the two paramedics talking about having to get this 'disaster' cleaned up, following with one of them staying behind for a few minutes to radio in for the police to come along to investigate the matter. I spotted another young trainer just behind the pile of stone down on his knees and crying. He must have been far enough away from the disruption and saw everything.

The young female was shortly afterwards found under a particularly big rock they got one of their partners to lift out the way. The Machoke tossed the boulder away to the side with ease and sat down to wait on his master finishing up.

I saw the poor girl's mangled body being lifted onto a stretcher as gently as possible, before getting covered with a ghost white sheet. I offered a silent prayer of peace to the young human, knowing she was in a better place now. I felt a tear escape my eye...

"Hey! There it is!"

I snapped my attention to the voice of the male trainer on the other side of the mess on the road. He was pointing right at me, calling the attention of one of the newly arrived police officers to where he was standing.

"Officer Jenny, that's the strange looking Absol that Lilou said she saw before the landslide!"

I knew immediately I had to make myself scarce and lay low for a while. They would know me in a heartbeat if they saw me again so soon. I don't let just anyone see how unique I am to others of my kind. Unique, yet still stuck with the same burden.

You see, my kind can sense when a great disaster or tragedy is going to happen through vibrations setting off visions from our horns. Naturally our instincts lead us to do everything in our power to try to stop them from happening, or at least prevent death. People or Pokémon it doesn't matter, we will do it, even if they are the one causing the disaster in the first place.

Most of the time though… we get there too late.

A lot of humans call us bad omens and warn others to stay away from us in case of bad luck following behind us, when in fact we are the complete opposite. If we are in the right place at the right time… well all I really have to say is we would be the ones getting hurt before anyone else. A natural instinct to sacrifice yourself to save others from danger, yeah...

Anyway, I lowered my head and took off into the forest not too far from the landslide to keep my presence on the down low for a while.

I passed a family of Zigzagoon and Linoone, hearing them offer their condolences for being unsuccessful was comforting. I am thankful that the other Pokémon understand what we try to do, it's hard enough trying to convince a human to understand, but at least other Pokémon know our instincts.

This is why I believe that trainers are more helpful than just regular civilians with no partners. Somehow they can understand what their caught partners say to them. Maybe a bond is created when they enter those strange spheres, Pokeballs I think they're called? I don't get it but to me that looks to be the case.

I climbed up a tree and lay down on a particularly thick branch to go to sleep and take my mind off of what I couldn't get done today. My mind was whirring and that would give me nightmares, but I had to just grin and bear it like always.

The sound of a child's laughter slowly awakened me from my dreamless sleep. I appeared to have slept all day and all night for it looked to be morning. I gazed down from my branch to see a very young human boy running around with a baby Azurill, both giggling and having fun. I smiled slightly, seeing there was no danger and I lowered my head to sleep again, when I got pulled into a vision.

'_The young boy who was just below me a few seconds ago was running for his life through the forest. It appeared to still be daylight and the Azurill was long gone. He was running with no real sense of direction and ended up at the door to the large abandoned mansion at the opposite end of the forest. He pushed the entire weight of his body against the huge door to open it, darted inside, and then did the same again on the other side to close it, unknowingly causing the latch on the door to lock him in from the inside. The scene changed suddenly to him wandering down a large dirty hallway, gently sobbing to himself when he sees a small bluish light at the end and coming towards him slowly. It was a lone Litwick.'_ Litwick hardly stay alone, the evil little creatures that they are. They trick you and feed off of your life force while doing so. Humans have this funny way of putting their trust in wild Litwicks that seem to be showing them the way out or to their destination, when in reality they're just leading them to their doom.

My vision continues. _'The human seems to be a lot more happy at seeing a somewhat 'friendly' Pokémon waving its tiny arms at him and beckoning him to follow it. Obviously the young boy has been tricked into thinking he's going to have a guide to get him home safely. As he walked away slowly with the small Litwick, I got a sudden flash of the boy lying on the floor looking very tired, weak and thin. His eyes were sunken and almost lifeless. A rather large Hypno was the last thing I saw before my scene changed abruptly again to the view of a house I had seen before in the forest, some ways away from this mansion. A female Pokémon trainer was standing at the doorstep and calling out a name. Malaki. As she was shouting, a green Espeon walked out from the doorway, searching the area with its psychic powers, only to find nothing.'_

So there is another Pokémon in this like me, has a special quality also like me, yet it seems to have no qualms with having a big difference compared to its kin?

I shook my head at the petty little personal thing and cleared my mind for the task I had now set myself out to do. I had to go to that house and get that trainer to help me save this boy. He must be her little brother.

I stood up, a new sense of purpose about me and leapt down to the forest floor silently before racing off full speed towards the place I had seen that house stuck in my mind before. I will save this human from disaster, I will bet everything on it this time.

As I neared familiar territory, I spotted the house come into sight. The first thing I pointed out to myself was that there was no human life outside. I went around to the back of the house and still, nothing.

Was I too late again? I couldn't bear the thought. But the young male wasn't crying or running scared when I saw him earlier with that Azurill, he was quite the opposite. I must be early then. I prayed to Arceus I was early this time.

I decided to approach the back door of the house slowly. I lifted my paw to scratch it gently, when I saw the handle move down as if it was going to open and I darted away behind a bush as fast as I could.

The door opened and the very human I was looking for steps out into the morning sun. Her long white blonde hair was let loose from a towel to fall into a wet waterfall behind her back as she takes in a huge breath of morning air. Her eyes open when she breathes back out, revealing sapphire blue eyes as she sighs contentedly. A small Fletchling is perched on her shoulder playfully nibbling at her wet hair, when the Espeon I saw before appeared in the doorway and stood at her side as the girl walked onto the garden patio.

I could sense she was an advanced trainer regardless of the baby Fletchling on her shoulder. It must have just hatched recently as it was still quite small even for its tiny size in general. I noticed it was a bit off-coloured for a regular Fletchling though. Was it also like me? Is this trainer someone who makes a living off of finding us different looking Pokémon?

Now was the time to show myself. That boy, Malaki needed help now, not tomorrow.

I rustled the bush I concealed myself behind and walked out cautiously as to not cause anyone any panic. The human girl gasps and I found myself surrounded by psychic energy and floating a few feet from the ground. The Espeon had bristled and was warning me to stay away and not come near her master. I grew worried that this may have not gone to plan, so I tried to reason with the Espeon as to why I was there and why I needed their help. The girl was still staring at me in awe while I spoke quickly with her Pokémon. The mention of Malaki caught Espeons attention and she stared at me suspiciously. I pleaded with her to get her master to help.

The next thing I knew we were racing back through the forest full speed in the opposite direction. The human was on my back holding on for dear life, Espeon beside me and the young Fletchling was left inside the house to eat lunch. On the way to the mansion the girl told me her name was Saskia and she warned me multiple times that she would not be happy if this was a joke. We reached the old decrepit mansion and I saw that the huge front door was already closed properly. He was already inside, which meant we didn't have much time left. As Saskia tried to push the door open, I called to her and shook my head. I nodded towards a smashed window and proceeded to jump inside, brushing all the excess glass away with my horn to stop her and Espeon getting hurt.

The second we got inside, Saskia commented with the feeling of unease. I nodded and began walking down a nearby hallway to look for the one I saw in my mind. The trainer followed me cautiously, yet put her trust in my sense of direction. Slowly I felt her unease turn to confidence and fearlessness, which in turn made Espeon look more confident too.

Then I heard it. The Litwick.

It's calling its master. I know we have to act fast if we are to save Malaki. I bark for them to follow me quickly and Saskia jumps onto my back as we race down the huge hallway with a familiar blue flickering light at the end. We pick up the pace and it isn't long before our surroundings change dramatically.

We are now in what appears to be an old cave. We must have run through an invisible portal to get us here. The Litwick and Malaki are right in front of us, the latter looking worse for wear. It looks like he is ready for giving up. He is barely conscious, dreadfully thin and his features are extremely sunken. I turn to see Saskia gasp silently and close her eyes as tears threaten to take over her vision. I turn back and wait for the perfect timing to interrupt the deal that's going on here.

Our attention returns to the Litwick that's still calling its 'master' when a huge Hypno steps out of the seemingly endless blackness behind him. He looks at lot bigger than the one in my vision, but it isn't going to stop me from thinking about the young boy's wellbeing.

As Malaki is lifted over to the Hypno, I charge up a night slash and strike him right in the chest as he bends over to pick up the human. My attack knocks him back and surprises him as he is now out of reach from his prey. Hypno stands up, clearly enraged at my interruption. He shoots a psychic attack at me in anger but falters when he sees it bounce off me with no effect. He begins to swing his pendulum, chanting something while doing so. I narrow my eyes at him before quickly glancing over to where the boy is to see Saskia go to him quickly and is holding his head in her lap, Espeon using morning sun to help him waken. I see what must be her Mawile keeping the Litwick at bay. I realise that the Mawile has a pink head instead of the usual greenish grey. It has two mouths coming from its head instead of one and it was twice as fast.

I black out for a few seconds, forgetting I'm in the middle of a fight and I am hit with a painful shadow ball. I stand back up, bringing all of my attention back to my opponent. I race up to Hypno and deliver a crunch attack as I reach him. He throws me off, but is obviously weakened by that physical attack. He begins chanting and swinging his pendulum again. I quickly decide on using dark pulse next and that would hopefully keep Hypno away for long enough while we get away. As I run towards him again I charge up as fast as I can. Just as I release it, I spot Hypno smirking before a huge blinding light takes over my sight. Then I fall into darkness.

I waken to the feeling of comfort. I open my eyes and find myself in what I deduce as a makeshift bed. The room I find myself in is neat and tidy, with posters lining the walls of famous Pokémon trainers, and of humans holding strange items with musical notes surrounding them. I see a framed picture on the wall just in my sight and notice that it wasn't holding a photo, but badges. Eight of them. But they aren't from here, they look a lot different to the ones trainers I see with around here. In particular, I don't recall there being a triangular-shaped badge with lightning bolts sticking out from it in many directions, or one that looks like a bugs face either. She must have come from a faraway place then.

I turn my attention to the doorway as I hear the clicking of the door opening. Saskia steps inside with Espeon close behind. She smiles at me as she sits down on the bed across from my bed place as Espeon lays on the floor, watching me intently.

"I see you're finally awake," she speaks softly. "You were out for two days because of that blast."

I blink in surprise. That must have been a focus blast I was hit with.

She places a bowl of generic Pokémon food down in front of me and smiles once again. "Eat up, I bet you're starving."

I don't need to be told twice, and within seconds the bowl is empty. I lick my lips and softly call my thanks to her.

Saskia nods, her smile ever-present. "I think people are out looking for you," My ears perk in interest and I stare at her to continue. "People came to the door yesterday asking if we had seen a shiny Absol as it is showing up and disaster is following after."

I lower my gaze and put my head down in sadness at being misunderstood once again. This human has been the only one in a very long time to show me any sort of kindness, but now with that information in her head she will end up just like the rest.

"I have studied Absols behaviours though, so I know that is not the case. I know you're just trying to help people from walking into potential dangers, and I have tried to explain this to these people looking for you."

She comes over to me and kneels right in front of my sight.

"You saved my little brothers life back there, you know that? If that's not evidence that you are a good Pokémon, than I don't know what is. I am forever grateful for what you did and the risks you took to help us."

I stare at this human in complete awe. Nobody in this world had ever thanked me for my existence before. I must be dreaming.

"I have a big decision I would like you to consider Absol. It is completely your own choice and I will respect it either way."

This peaks my interest and my curiosity puts me on my feet, looking into Saskia's eyes.

"Ok, here goes. I would like to ask that you become one of my special partners. We can journey together all over the world, and we can help people you can sense that are in danger in the area. You can stay outside your Pokeball as much or as little as you like, I don't mind. Or, you can go back into the forest still as a wild shiny Absol and I'll make sure that you are left in peace with no unwanted confrontations from any humans."

My eyes widen at the requests she set out for me. I watch as she carefully places a white Pokeball with a simple line of red going all the way around it between us. I look into her eyes and see everything I need to know that all would be right in the world. I soften my eyes at her and nod before I tap the small white and red ball with my nose, causing it to open. I close my eyes in acceptance as I feel myself being pulled inside the sphere.

I find myself in front of Saskia a few minutes later. Seeing the joy on her face makes me happy. Before I know it I'm in the embrace of my new trainer.

"I promise you Absol, we will make the world a better place. We will turn your burden into the world's greatest gift."

I smile in my new masters arms. I know I am finally where I'm wanted. I. Am. Home.

Thank you, Saskia.


End file.
